Work tool cleaning system and method for work vehicles

ABSTRACT

A system for removing material from a work tool of a work vehicle, the system comprising the work vehicle including the work tool, an operator control coupled with the work vehicle, a first movement actuators movably coupling a first end portion of the work tool, a second movement actuator movable coupling a second end portion of the work tool, with a cleaning sequence comprising the steps of actuating the first movement actuator causing the first end portion of the work tool to move in a first direction, actuating the second movement actuator causing the second end portion of the work tool to move in a second direction, actuating the first movement actuator causing the first end portion of the work tool to move in the second direction, and actuating the second movement actuator causing the second end portion of the work tool to move in the first direction.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to a work vehicle. Anembodiment of the present disclosure relates to work tool cleaningsystem for work vehicles.

BACKGROUND

Work vehicles, such as crawler dozers, skid steer loaders, compact trackloaders, excavators, and other work vehicles often use a work tool tomove material. While moving material with the work tool, material canbuild up on the work tool, which can reduce effectiveness, reducequality of work, and create other issues. An improved option forremoving material build up from a work tool is needed.

SUMMARY

Various aspects of examples of the present disclosure are set out in theclaims.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a system forremoving material from a work tool of a work vehicle, the systemcomprising the work vehicle including the work tool, an operator controlcoupled with the work vehicle, a first movement actuators movablycoupling a first end portion of the work tool, a second movementactuator movable coupling a second end portion of the work tool, anelectronic processor in communication with the operator control and thetwo or more movement actuators, wherein the electronic processor isconfigured to receive, by the electronic processor, a signal from theoperator control, and automatically move the work tool in a cleaningsequence, the cleaning sequence comprising the steps of actuating thefirst movement actuator causing the first end portion of the work toolto move in a first direction, actuating the second movement actuatorcausing the second end portion of the work tool to move in a seconddirection, actuating the first movement actuator causing the first endportion of the work tool to move in the second direction, and actuatingthe second movement actuator causing the second end portion of the worktool to move in the first direction.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a method ofremoving material from a work tool on a vehicle, the method comprisingreceiving, by an electronic processor, a signal from an operatorcontrol, and automatically moving the work tool in a cleaning sequence,the cleaning sequence comprising the steps of actuating a first movementactuator causing the first end portion of the work tool to move in afirst direction, actuating a second movement actuator causing the secondend portion of the work tool to move in a second direction, actuatingthe first movement actuator causing the first end portion of the worktool to move in the second direction, and actuating the second movementactuator causing the second end portion of the work tool to move in thefirst direction.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, a work vehiclethat moves material, the work vehicle comprising a work tool coupledwith the work vehicle where the work tool is capable of moving thematerial, an operator control coupled with the work vehicle, a firstmovement actuators movably coupling a first end portion of the work toolwith the work vehicle, a second movement actuator movable coupling asecond end portion of the work tool with the work vehicle, an electronicprocessor in communication with the operator control and the firstmovement actuator and the second movement actuator, wherein theelectronic processor is configured to receive, by the electronicprocessor, a signal from the operator control, and automatically movethe work tool in a cleaning sequence, the cleaning sequence comprisingthe steps of actuating the first movement actuator causing the first endportion of the work tool to move in a first direction, actuating thesecond movement actuator causing the second end portion of the work toolto move in a second direction, actuating the first movement actuatorcausing the first end portion of the work tool to move in the seconddirection, and actuating the second movement actuator causing the secondend portion of the work tool to move in the first direction.

The above and other features will become apparent from the followingdescription and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description of the drawings refers to the accompanyingfigures in which:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a work vehicle with a blade, consistentwith embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 2A-C are side views of a work vehicle with a blade, consistentwith embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a work tool cleaning system, consistentwith embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a method for operating work tool cleaningsystem, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure.

Like reference numerals are used to indicate like elements throughoutthe several figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

At least one example embodiment of the subject matter of this disclosureis understood by referring to FIGS. 1 through 4 of the drawings.

While the present disclosure has been illustrated and described indetail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration anddescription is not restrictive in character, it being

understood that illustrative embodiment(s) have been shown and describedand that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit ofthe present disclosure are desired to be protected. Alternativeembodiments of the present disclosure may not include all of thefeatures described yet still benefit from at least some of theadvantages of such features. Those of ordinary skill in the art maydevise their own implementations that incorporate one or more of thefeatures of the present disclosure and fall within the spirit and scopeof the appended claims.

While operating a work vehicle, material can build up on a work tool(e.g., a blade) while moving material (e.g., dirt, sand, soil, etc.).This can be challenging for a number of reasons. For example, materialthat is built up on the work tool can unexpectedly come free from thework tool, causing problems with the quality of the work. Carrying extramaterial build up on the work tool can also reduce the efficiency and/oreffectiveness of the work being performed. An operator can try tomanually remove/dislodge the material built up on the blade byactivating various controls to vibrate the blade to shake the materialsloose. This is time consuming, and has limited effectiveness, especiallyif the action is needed numerous times because of repeated materialbuild up on the work tool. Additionally, if a work vehicle is engaged ina grading process where a grade control system is being used, blademovements made by an operator could cause issues with the grading beingdone (e.g., not maintaining a uniform grade), and this could causeproblems for the grade control system and the overall quality of thegrading work.

In embodiments described herein, using technology to allow the operatorto automatically or effectively remove material from a work tool wouldprovide more efficient work performed by the work vehicle and couldreduce operator fatigue due to the need for fewer repetitive actionswith the controls. Moving the work tool can also help distributematerial built up in one area of the work tool so the material is moreevenly distributed along the work took (e.g., from the center of thework tool towards the edges of the work tool). This material distributedcan allow for more even spreading of material. This can be especiallybeneficial for work tool that are used to create a final grade surface.

Moving the blade where only the angle is changing (and not other controlparameters) could also prevent errors in the grade being created and/ormaintained by a grade control system. This is helpful and useful whencreating and maintaining a uniform grade during grading maneuvers.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of work vehicle 100. Work vehicle 100 isillustrated as a crawler dozer, which may also be referred to as acrawler, but may be any work vehicle with a ground-engaging blade orwork tool (i.e., implement) such as a crawler dozer, a compact trackloader, a motor grader, a skid steer, and a tractor, to name a fewexamples. Work vehicle 100 may be operated to engage the ground and cutand move material to achieve simple or complex features on the ground.As used herein, directions with regard to work vehicle 100 may bereferred to from the perspective of an operator seated within operatorstation 136: the left of work vehicle 100 is to the left of such anoperator, the right of work vehicle 100 is to the right of such anoperator, the front or fore of work vehicle 100 is the direction such anoperator faces, the rear or aft of work vehicle 100 is behind such anoperator, the top of work vehicle 100 is above such an operator, and thebottom of work vehicle 100 is below such an operator. While operating,work vehicle 100 may experience movement in three directions androtation in three directions. Direction for work vehicle 100 may also bereferred to with regard to longitude 102 or the longitudinal direction,latitude 106 or the lateral direction, and vertical 110 or the verticaldirection. Rotation for work vehicle 100 may be referred to as roll 104or the roll direction, pitch 108 or the pitch direction, and yaw 112 orthe yaw direction or heading.

Additional information about various components of a crawler dozer canbe found in U.S. Pat. No. 9,328,479, which his hereby incorporated byreference.

Blade 142 is a work implement which may engage the ground or material tomove or shape it. Blade 142 may be used to move material from onelocation to another and to create features on the ground, including flatareas, grades, hills, roads, or more complexly shaped features. In thisembodiment, blade 142 of work vehicle 100 may be referred to as asix-way blade, six-way adjustable blade, or power-angle-tilt (PAT)blade. Blade 142 may be hydraulically actuated to move vertically up orvertically down (which may also be referred to as blade lift, or raiseand lower), roll left or roll right (which may be referred to as bladetilt, or tilt left and tilt right), and yaw left or yaw right (which maybe referred to as blade angle, or angle left and angle right).Alternative embodiments may utilize a blade with fewer hydraulicallycontrolled degrees of freedom, such as a 4-way blade that may not beangled or actuated in the direction of yaw 112.

Blade 142 may be angled relative to work vehicle 100 by the actuation ofangle cylinders 154, which may also be referred to as moving blade 142in the direction of yaw 112. For each of angle cylinders 154, the rodend is pivotally connected to a clevis of blade 142 while the head endis pivotally connected to a clevis of c-frame 148. One of anglecylinders 154 is positioned on the left side of work vehicle 100, leftof the ball-socket joint between blade 142 and c-frame 148, and theother of angle cylinders 154 is positioned on the right side of workvehicle 100, right of the ball-socket joint between blade 142 andc-frame 148. This positioning results in the extension of the left ofangle cylinders 154 and the retraction of the right of angle cylinders154 angling blade 142 rightward, or yawing blade 142 clockwise whenviewed from above, and the retraction of left of angle cylinder 150 andthe extension of the right of angle cylinders 154 angling blade 142leftward, or yawing blade 142 counterclockwise when viewed from above.In alternative embodiments, blade 142 may be angled by a differentmechanism or angle cylinders 154 may be configured differently.

FIGS. 2A-C are left side views of the work vehicle of FIG. 1 ,consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 2A shows thework vehicle 100 moving material 155 with the work tool 142 (i.e.,blade) where the material 155 is building up on the blade 142. FIG. 2Bshows actuation of left hydraulic cylinder 154 a, that can be combinedwith actuation of the right hydraulic cylinder 154 b (right hydrauliccylinder 154 b is hidden from view in FIGS. 2A-C; see FIG. 1 ) asdescribed in this disclosure. FIG. 2C shows the buildup of material 155removed from the blade 142.

In other embodiments, the work tool movement could be triggered by alinear actuator or an electric solenoid. The movement could includevibrating the blade with an unbalanced weight on a motor shaft orsimilar arrangement.

While the embodiments here describe using two hydraulic cylinders (e.g.,left hydraulic cylinder 154 a and right hydraulic cylinder 154 b), someembodiments could use only a single hydraulic cylinder to triggermovement of the work tool for removing material (not shown).

FIG. 3 is schematic diagram of a work tool material removal system,consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. A work toolcleaning system 200 can include an operator control 202 coupled to thework vehicle 100. The work tool 142 can be coupled with a firstactuation mechanism 154 a (i.e., hydraulic cylinder 154 a) and a secondactuation mechanism 154 b (e.g., hydraulic cylinder 154 b), where thefirst hydraulic cylinder 154 a and the second hydraulic cylinder 154 bare coupled with portions of the work vehicle 100.

An operator control (e.g., controller 138) can generate a signal 204 asent to the left hydraulic cylinder 154 a and another signal 204 b sentto the right hydraulic cylinder 154 b, where the signals are sent invarious patterns. For example, the first left actuation signal 204 acould be to move the work tool 142 by extending the left hydrauliccylinder 154 a, then a first right actuation signal 204 b could be sentto retract the right hydraulic cylinder 154 b. After that, anothersignal 204 a could be sent to the left hydraulic cylinder 154 a toretract, and then another signal 204 b could be sent to the righthydraulic cylinder 154 b to extend. These signals could be sent in anynumber of patterns (e.g., Left-extend, right-contract, left-contract,right-extend, etc.; or left-extend, left extend, right-contract,right-contract, left-contract, left-contract, right-extend,right-extend, etc.). In some embodiments, the left actuation signal andright actuation signal could be sent simultaneously (e.g., left cylinderis extending at the same time the right cylinder is contracting, leftcylinder is contracting while the right cylinder is extending, etc.).

The duration of movement of the work tool 142 can vary. In someembodiments, the operator can hold a button or toggle a switch or othersimilar device to cause the work tool material removal system to engage(e.g., the system engages while the button is depressed or the switch isflipped, etc.). In other embodiments, the system could engage for aspecific period of time (e.g., one second, two seconds, five seconds,etc.) for each engagement of the button (i.e., pressing the button oncewill cause the system to engage for one cycle of set time).

The operator is also able to change, using the operator controls, thetype of movement of the blade. For example, with a crawler, the bladecan be moved to remove material build up by alternating movements toroll the blade left or roll right (also referred to as blade tilt, ortilt left or tilt right). This can be referred to blade tilt shake(i.e., vibration, etc.). As noted above, the blade can also be moved asdescribed herein where the blade yaw is moved (i.e., yaw left or yawright, or blade angle or angle left and angle right). This can bereferred to as blade angle shake (i.e., vibration, etc.). The work toolsystem 200 can allow for the operator to change the system from a bladetilt shake mode to a blade angle shake mode with regards to materialremoval.

The work tool cleaning system 200 also has a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory 206. The non-transitory computer-readablememory 206 may comprise electronic memory, nonvolatile random-accessmemory, an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or anotherdevice for storing and accessing electronic data on any recordable,rewritable, or readable electronic, optical, or magnetic storage medium.

An electronic processor 208 is provided and configured to perform anoperation by controllably moving the work tool 142 relative to the workvehicle 100 in any sequence selected for moving the left hydrauliccylinder 154 a and the right hydraulic cylinder 154 b. The electronicprocessor 208 may be arranged locally as part of the work vehicle 100 orremotely at a remote processing center (not shown). In variousembodiments, the electronic processor 208 may comprise a microprocessor,a microcontroller, a central processing unit, a programmable logicarray, a programmable logic controller, or other suitable programmablecircuitry that is adapted to perform data processing and/or systemcontrol operations. The electronic processor 208 executes or otherwiserelies upon computer software applications, components, programs,objects, modules, or data structures, etc. Software routines resident inthe included memory of the electronic processor 208 or other memory areexecuted in response to signals received.

The computer software applications, in other embodiments, may be locatedin the cloud. The executed software includes one or more specificapplications, components, programs, objects, modules, or sequences ofinstructions typically referred to as “program code”. The program codeincludes one or more instructions located in memory and other storagedevices which execute the instructions which are resident in memory,which are responsive to other instructions generated by the system, orwhich are provided by an operator interface 88 operated by the user(e.g., located in the operator cab or at a remote location). Theelectronic processor 208 is configured to execute the stored programinstructions.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a method for operating a work vehicle,consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. A method 300 forremoving material from a work tool can include a step 302 of receiving,by an electronic processor, a signal from an operator control, and astep 304 of automatically moving the work tool in a cleaning sequence,where the cleaning sequence comprises a step 304 a of actuating a firstmovement actuator causing the first end portion of the work tool to movein a first direction (e.g., a first yaw direction), a step 304 b ofactuating a second movement actuator causing the second end portion ofthe work tool to move in a second direction (e.g., a second yawdirection), a step 304 c of actuating the first movement actuatorcausing the first end portion of the work tool to move in the seconddirection, and a step 304 d of actuating the second movement actuatorcausing the second end portion of the work tool to move in the firstdirection.

The cleaning sequence in step 304 can further comprise a step 304 e ofdistributing the material along the work tool. During operation of thework vehicle, material can build up along the work tool (e.g., morematerial in the middle of the work tool and less along the edges). Thecleaning sequence described here can help distribute the material moreevenly along the work took (e.g., move material from the build up in themiddle of the work tool towards the edges of the work tool with lessmaterial). This material distribution can be helpful when trying tocreate a graded surface, including a final grade.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for removing material from a work toolof a work vehicle, the system comprising: the work vehicle including thework tool; an operator control coupled with the work vehicle; a firstmovement actuators movably coupling a first end portion of the worktool; a second movement actuator movable coupling a second end portionof the work tool; an electronic processor in communication with theoperator control and the first movement actuator and the second movementactuator, wherein the electronic processor is configured to receive, bythe electronic processor, a signal from the operator control; andautomatically move the work tool in a cleaning sequence, the cleaningsequence comprising the steps of actuating the first movement actuatorcausing the first end portion of the work tool to move in a firstdirection, actuating the second movement actuator causing the second endportion of the work tool to move in a second direction, actuating thefirst movement actuator causing the first end portion of the work toolto move in the second direction, and actuating the second movementactuator causing the second end portion of the work tool to move in thefirst direction.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first movementactuator and the second movement actuator are configured to move thework tool in a yaw direction.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein thefirst movement actuator and the second movement actuator each comprise ahydraulic cylinder, a linear actuator, or an electric solenoid.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the first direction comprises a first yawdirection and the second direction comprises a second yaw direction. 5.The system of claim 1, wherein the automatic movement of the work tooloccurs for a fixed amount of time per the signal received by theprocessor.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the automatic movement ofthe work tool only occurs while the signal is being received by theprocessor.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the cleaning sequencedistributes the material along the work tool.
 8. A method of removingmaterial from a work tool on a vehicle, the method comprising:receiving, by an electronic processor, a signal from an operatorcontrol; and automatically moving the work tool in a cleaning sequence,the cleaning sequence comprising the steps of actuating a first movementactuator causing the first end portion of the work tool to move in afirst direction, actuating a second movement actuator causing the secondend portion of the work tool to move in a second direction, actuatingthe first movement actuator causing the first end portion of the worktool to move in the second direction, and actuating the second movementactuator causing the second end portion of the work tool to move in thefirst direction.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first directioncomprises a first yaw direction and the second direction comprises asecond yaw direction.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the automaticmovement of the work tool occurs for a fixed amount of time per signalreceived by the processor.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein theautomatic movement of the work tool only occurs while the signal isbeing received by the processor.
 12. The method of claim 8, wherein thefirst movement actuator and the second movement actuator each comprise ahydraulic cylinder.
 13. The method of claim 8, wherein the cleaningsequence further comprises distributing the material along the worktool.
 14. A work vehicle that moves material, the work vehiclecomprising: a work tool coupled with the work vehicle where the worktool is capable of moving the material; an operator control coupled withthe work vehicle; a first movement actuators movably coupling a firstend portion of the work tool with the work vehicle; a second movementactuator movable coupling a second end portion of the work tool with thework vehicle; an electronic processor in communication with the operatorcontrol and the two or more movement actuators, wherein the electronicprocessor is configured to receive, by the electronic processor, asignal from the operator control; and automatically move the work toolin a cleaning sequence, the cleaning sequence comprising the steps ofactuating the first movement actuator causing the first end portion ofthe work tool to move in a first direction, actuating the secondmovement actuator causing the second end portion of the work tool tomove in a second direction, actuating the first movement actuatorcausing the first end portion of the work tool to move in the seconddirection, and actuating the second movement actuator causing the secondend portion of the work tool to move in the first direction.
 15. Thework vehicle of claim 14, wherein the first movement actuator and thesecond movement actuator are configured to move the work tool in a yawdirection.
 16. The work vehicle of claim 14, wherein the first directioncomprises a first yaw direction and the second direction comprises asecond yaw direction.
 17. The work vehicle of claim 14, wherein thefirst movement actuator and the second movement actuator each comprise ahydraulic cylinder, a linear actuator, or an electric solenoid.
 18. Thework vehicle of claim 14, wherein the cleaning sequence furthercomprises distributing the material along the work tool.